Sometimes I Like The Kid Who Doesn't Talk More...

There are some benefits to a kid that doesn't talk. Peace and quiet being two. The Little Person, who may be renamed The One Who Never Shuts Up is literally driving us crazy. As in batshit, I think I might do something bad if you don't go to your grandparents house right now. Thankfully, The Rents are still in town. And when I called my mom to ask her to take The Little Person (I won't rename him just yet), my dad answered. I went through the niceties, how are you, how was your trip (he just came back from seeing my 93 year old grandmother), and then laid it out.

Me

"I just wanted to see how you were doing and whether you could take The Little Person for a while, because he's driving us crazy."

Dad

"What's he doing?"

Me

"Talking non-stop and asking tons of questions (among other more vexing things).

Dad

"Oh, so the normal."

Me

"Yup."

Dad said that he had some work to do, and I thought this, along with my mother not being home (she is the official arranger of plans) was going to be an excuse or delay tactic (as in, why don't you give your mom a call?) But to my surprise, he said he had some work to do, and why didn't I drop The Little Person off at 2:15, 2:30, which was in about a half an hour. Great!

After M was done letting him watch him sand and stain the new wood shelves for the basement I let The Little Person watch an episode of I Spy on the condition that he not talk or I would turn the television off (I figured it was the only way I could cope with the time left until I dropped him off with Pop. He agreed, and to his credit, lasted almost 10 minutes, at which part I reminded him of our deal.

As I was walking out the door to drop him off at The Rents, Lovely neighbor called for a coffee break. She was working from home and needed a bit of a chin wag. So I zoomed over to The rents, disposed of the child and kept her from doing anything productive for a good hour. That, along with the coffee (and said ditching of the child) has restored me to my normal cheery self! Did I mention I've been up since three?

The cool thing is, Lovely Neighbor helped me come up with an idea. We were talking about books, and with my Kindle Ahem problem. I download books constantly, whenever I hear about them, whether it be on NPR, or in O Magazine. I downloaded the Kindle app on my Blackberry and on one of the laptops (we now have three, but that's a whole nother post), so I can read on multiple devices (including my Kindle). Partly this was because my Kindle is Ahem compromised. It works well, but there is a crack or a glitch in the part of the screen where the cursor slides up and down, so I have to guess where the curser is. Usually, I am pretty good at guessing, but it takes some of the fun and convenience out of it (especially downloading items), and today it took me a good fifteen minutes to download The New Yorker. So, not only can I read on multiple devices anywhere and everywhere, but the downloading itself is a lot easier on the BB and laptops.

Anywho, all that is to say that I Like To Read. A Lot. Actually, I'd pretty much rather be by myself reading, or lost in a book, than anything else. Might be something to do with the only child thing, but it's what makes me happy and what calms me down. So we were talking (that is, Lovely Neighbor and I), about how this interest/obsession had never really translated into a career for me. Editors, copy or otherwise don't pick what comes across their desk, and end up reading a lot of crap. She suggested I could write reviews for the local paper, but I don't know if anyone else would care what books I like. But then i thought, what medium allows me to share my thoughts and opinions no matter whether anyone else is interested in them? And it hit me. The internet! I could blog about the books I read (on a separate blog from Sammy Noodles, of course), the books I want to read, the magazines I like and everything that obsesses me about books and reading! So, I may do it. First I have to think of a name. Book Whore?

The case of the unfortunate early riser

Sam has been great. Much easier than The Little Person, actually. With one, large, exception. He awakens in the night to pee, and then gets up for th day in the 4am hour. Which has left us a little, delirious. So we cut out napping at school. We let him go to bed later, made him go to bed earlier. Not let him drink anything before bedtime, tired him out and just plain told him to be quiet and stay in his room. None of it works, it's getting worse, or more consistent, and we are at a loss. Have I mentioned that we are tired? Other than that, he's been great. Handed candy out with my mom on Halloween, even went to one, neighbors house, to trick or treat. So, my posts have been light because I can't think very well. Otherwise, can't complain. Had a good conference with his first grade teacher. Even volunteered to come talk to the kids about Sam. Mrs. C thought that would be a great idea. We'll see...

Had some friends/neighbors/family (mine and neighbors) over for pizza before trick or treating on Halloween. It went well, except for I think I freaked out a little and may have been a little un-hostess-like. M went to pick up the pizza, and folks started comming over. Sam was being Sam, that is, running around, pulling his pants down on the way to the bathroom, feeling that every computer in the house is his whenever he wants to use it, and I felt a little uncomfortable. Stressed out? People in my house (kind, lovely people) who didn't know mw, or Sam, judging us (in my head). Anyway, I'm used to him with certain people, but there were a lot of people (18 including the 6 kids), and M was gone and Sam was doing things and I think I snapped a little. Out of my own feelings of awkwardness? Unsure of what people were thhinkng, and unable to control the situation to my satisfaction. So, I feel badly that I didn't hold it together very well for a time. I recovered, and we had a great time trick or treating. In the end, it was the best Halloween ever, since kids, and I'm sure nobody has thought of it but me, because they are all nice, lovely people. But, there we are.

Good News and Bad News...

The good news is that apparently Sam's school picture came out great. The bad news is that he will not be in his class picture. Sigh...I guess he started exhibiting some "behavior" and they decided to skip it. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I understand him having a hard time and his teachers having to make executive decisions, but last year they planned for it and he did really well, and it makes me really sad that he's not in the class picture. It plays into how well his new teachers are able to work with him and manage his behavior. He's had a resurgence of challenging behavior at school, and it's hard top watch him go through it again, and to hear about it in his notebook, and at our meetings, and in phone calls (the "exposing himself" incident).

On the other hand, I have the best friends and the greatest family. I am doing this Walk for Autism, and I put out a plea for some donations. I am totally overwhelmed with people's generosity. People, so far have donated almost twice the amount I committed to raising. As I told my friend and fellow member of team tiny, when it doesn't suck I remember what a good life I have, and when it sucks I remember what amazing friends and family I have.